Corning Backs View to Develop Energy-Saving Glass for Buildings

By Andrew Herndon -
Jun 18, 2013

Corning Inc. (GLW), the maker of glass for
flat-panel televisions, phones and tablets, led a $60 million
investment in View Inc. and will help the company develop
tintable, energy-saving windows for buildings.

Khosla Ventures, General Electric Co. (GE), Sigma Partners LP
and NanoDimension Management Ltd. also participated in View’s
Series E funding round, and the company has raised about $182.5
million in total equity financing since 2006, Chief Executive
Officer Rao Mulpuri said by telephone.

Closely held View, based in Milpitas, California, is
developing “dynamic glass” that changes tint in response to
environmental conditions and user preferences, controlling the
amount of sunlight and heat in buildings. Energy consumed by
lighting, heating and air conditioning systems is reduced by
about 20 percent a year in “a typical commercial
installation,” View said today in a statement.

“It’s the next big thing in buildings,” Mulpuri said.
“It’s highly energy-efficient. It’s how things should be
built.”

View’s addressable market is about $100 billion, assuming
about 10 percent of the world’s windows could use its glass,
Mulpuri said. About 25 billion square feet of glass a year is
installed globally as external windows, he said.

That’s about eight times as much glass used annually in
liquid crystal display televisions, a market worth about $10
billion to $15 billion a year, said Jeffrey Evenson, Corning’s
senior vice president and operations chief of staff. “This is a
big opportunity for us.”

Corning’s investment will support research and development
to improve the quality of View’s product and create new
applications, Evenson said. The companies will collaborate on
“multiple phases of development” that will make tintable glass
“a really common component of major architectural projects,”
he said.

Supply Agreement

View’s glass tints when an electrical voltage is applied,
which can be programmed to occur or triggered on-demand by
building occupants with software or control systems that it’s
also developing. About 100 watts of power is used for every
1,000 panes of View’s five-foot by ten-foot glass, Mulpuri said.
The amount of consumption is “very small.”

The collaboration with Corning could lead to a glass supply
agreement in the future, though in the interim View will
continue buying from “architectural” suppliers, Mulpuri said.
View, which changed its name from Soladigm Inc. last year, began
shipments to customers about six months ago from its factory in
Olive Branch, Mississippi, and has 25 installations under way or
completed, he said.